Friday, January 09, 2009

IIS6 + Tomcat configuration, old classic

So you're not a IIS guru, nor a Windows guru and somebody forcefully give you the job to configure IIS6 with tomcat. You're unfortunate enough to go to all web wide tutorials which point you on how to place the ISAPI redirector dll, where to put it, to configure it through registry or properties file. I certainly prefer properties file as you don't want to hear my oppinion on windows registry (or maybe you want: it's a pile of shit !). After all workers.properties and uriworkermap.properties correctly configured it still doesn't work. You start searching frantically on the internet.

There are two things you will certainly miss cause they are missing from most of the tutorials I have read:
  • create a virtual directory (right click on your IIS web site you're configuring) named jakarta and give it execute run and read priviledges (most of the time read and execute should be enough) pointing to the folder containing the ISAPI redirector DLL, named as in the extension_uri ISAPI redirector configuration property aka: extension_uri=/jakarta/isapi_redirector.dll
  • create a web service extension (right click on web service extensions, add, name it tomcat point it to the redirector DLL and make sure you check the magical 'Allowed' status)
So after all the isapi_redirector.properties, workers.properties, uriworkermap.properties and correctly defining the DLL in the ISAPI Filters tab of your web site and seeing the magical green arrow victoriously pointed UP nothing works ? Well shit happens. REMEMBER to perform also the above points with the virtual directory and web service extension and you'll save yourself 2 days of frustrating windows restarting, IIS stopping and starting instead of playing a nice game.

Happy IIS-ing and if you're doing this on a regular basis ... find another job !

Monday, January 05, 2009

Do not go to Soelden - Haus Albin ...

Unless you want to be introduced to the 'open appartment' concept: 2 separate rooms, the toilet outside the rooms and across the hallway (used by all living at that floor, I mean the hallway, but nothing stops anyone at that floor to stumble upon that toilet anyway), the kitchen and the living room 2 floors downstairs. I am wondering when will we be introduced to the appartment that is splitered accross 2 separate buildings.

As for the temperature it was hitting 15 degrees celsius (YES on the inside, with us sleeping there !), I woke up 3 nights at 4 AM literally frozen (outside it was -15 to -5 degrees celsius all the time) and thinking to buy an electrical heater the next day so that we don't get back home sick as hell. When we got back home we were wearing t-shirts at 19 degrees celsius and we were thinking "what the hell, it's too warm in here. oh wait, no, it's 19 degrees, it's 3 degrees under the european standard, it's just that we don't need to wear tons of clothes, it's normal temperature".

And after all these, the "land lord" (literally fucking laugh here) accused us of being "cheap" when we didn't agree, immediately and without comment, to pay the kids station fee (70 eurs/kid. We paid it of course, we are decent people). We were wrong not to announce the kids in advance, I admit it, but you guys were extremely unpolite to put it so straight after 2000 euros you have charged for that freezing, so called 'open appartment'. To put it blunt as well, you were fuckheads with no excuse. You almost ruined our holiday and yes, you suck !